After this event has occured, just about any subsequent attempt to install a component results in the same problem, even those that have successfully installed on previous Delphi Instalations. The only solution I have found to this problem is to uninstall Delphi and then reinstall it and all my components. This is VERY boring and time consuming.

My question is: Is this a known bug? What is 'WinTypes.pas' and why does it never seem to exist on my machine, yet appears in uses clauses? and most importantly
Is there a better fix, or do I have to keep reinstalling Delphi?

In Delphi 1, the WINDOWS.PAS unit was split into WINTYPES and WINPROCS. The component you're installing doesn't have conditional compilation built-in to support the different Delphi versions. You can get around this by setting Aliases in your Project Options dialog. On the Directories/Conditionals tab (I'm using D3, I think it had the same name in D2) add the following to the Aliases combobox:

WinTypes=Windows;WinProcs=Windows;

That should take care of it. Beware of poorly written components out there.

Thanks for the advice, but the problem seems to persist, even when the aliases are set. The problem doesn't seem to be specific to certain components, rather something thet Delphi (V2.0) is experiencing. I'd presume that it was just my machine, but two people in my office have suffered heavily from it.
In that the file 'WinTypes.pas' still cannot be found, when the alias WinTypes=Windows exist, what else might the problem be? My suspicions are that the CompLib32.dpr file is becoming hopelessly corupted, does this sound plausible?

1) Yes, it seems to, allthough It's hard to say, because my current project requires that I install about 10 components (mostly my own [perfectly written]).

2) No.

3) Yes, (when you remove a component form the dialog, it does not remove it from the search path, you have to do it manually).

I've just installed my own component, inherited from a TPanel, and with NOTHING extra, no methods, no properties, just:

TPanelDerived = class(TPanel)
end;

And the same thing happened, Delphi is messing around with my sanity. Now nothing else will install, and I'm forced to reinstall delphi (5 times in three days, including Reinstalling Windows once).

Am I really the only person to experience this problem? Have I upset some God, who is seeking retribution? Do I have a messed up copy of Delphi? Does this problem stop occuring when my new version of Delphi3 arrives on Monday?

If you think you have any answers, then I'm eager to hear them. Admittedly my question did appear to be solvable by setting the aliases, but I'd already checked that. I figured that since this problem occurs to me so frequently that someone else must have experienced it. For that reason, I'm going to reject your answer now so that if anyone else has experienced my problem, they can answer the question. If no one has done so in about a week or so then I'll invite you to re-answer the question, so that I can grade you. Thanks for your help, please interpet this rejection as indication of my deseration for an answer, rather than a reflection of my opinion on your assistance, and if you have any new ideas in the next week then PLEASE let me know.

D3 handles component installation very differently. Rather than compiling your components into a single library you can add them in as packages (which can be both runtime or design time). Since you use so many third party components (note: many of which may need to be updated) I recommend you take a good long look at the docs on Packages before proceeding.

I concur with the above comments. The same problem haunted me for months. I stumbled on the solution accidentally. It seems to me that if the search path excedes 512 characters then things collapse exactly as you've described. Try putting all your components in one directory to reduce your search path length.

You all have my eternal gratitude, this solution seems to have worked. My only problem now is who to grade. After some deliberation I have decided that 'flisakow' probably was the first to suggest the answer, namely the search path length. If they'd like to submit an answer, then they will be duely rewarded.

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